In one of the more unusual animal stories I have come across recently a Jack Russell was rushed to the vet because he managed to glue his jaws together. The dog named Toby had eaten the morning post and the sticky mess of glue and envelopes had formed a substance similar to papier-mache and glued his jaws shut. His owner found her pet when she returned home and quickly realised he couldn’t open his mouth. He was rushed to the vet and sedated whilst the substance was removed and appears to have suffered no ill effects.

This lovely looking creature is the caterpillar of a the Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly. The caterpillar is only a few inches long but uses it’s unusual markings to make itself look like a snake and thus deter predators. This picture was taken in the US by wildlife biologist Jonathan Mays.

This is a new product which will soon on sale in Waitrose. Called lasting leaf it is a bag of lettuce that will stay fresh for up to 7 days before opening and has a 48 hour life once opened. The salad is blanched by passing the leaves through hot water before dousing them in chilled water which increases the life of the leaves whilst preserving the flavour.

This is interesting it’s a sign in North Carolina which not only has a picture of the beef it is advertising but also includes the smell. The large sign shows a black pepper and charcoal steak but also includes cartridges with fragranced oil. The aroma is spread with the help of a fan at the bottom of the billboard. The smell is pumped out six hours a day from from 7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm. Interesting idea but I wouldn’t want to live next door to it.

According to this article a hay fever vaccine could soon be available. The vaccine which could be available as early as next year would involve four injections over the course of three weeks. It is supposed to cut symptoms and the need for anti-histamine pills by almost half even in the most severe hay fever sufferers. British scientists even believe that taking a course a year over a three year period could even cure the condition. It all sounds very interesting but I think my fear of needles is greater than the irritation suffered by hay fever.

This is probably one of the more unusual stories I have seen recently. It involves a man called Steven Sparks who decided that a trip to a Victorian sewer would be the prefect way to propose to his girlfriend. Whilst it might not be everyone's idea of romance it seems the lady in question was happy to accept and the proposal met with the sweet smell of success. I wonder whether the wedding will be more conventional.

According to this article this could be the oldest leather shoe. It was discovered by archaeologists in a cave in Armenia. It is 5,500 years old and made of a single piece of leather shaped to fit the wearers foot. The shoe would have been quite small about a UK women’s size 5 but it could have worn by either a man or woman. It would have been preserved due to the cool and dry conditions in the cave and the fact that it was covered by a thick layer of sheep dung which acted as a solid seal preserving it over the millennia.

According to this article the large blue butterfly population in the UK appears to be doing well. The butterfly became extinct in Britain in 1979 but has since been reintroduced in 2000. Surveys of the National Trust site at Collard Hill last summer found that numbers were up by 22% from 2008 and it is thought record numbers will emerge this year. Whilst this is good news for the large blue many other once common species are still in decline. David Attenborough has recently launched a campaign to save Britain's butterflies that are threatened with extinction. One way you can help is by taking part in the Butterfly Conservation's the Big Butterfly Count which takes place from the 24th July to 1st August and should help to get a better idea of the state of Britain's butterfly population.

This stamp is a 1904 6d Pale Dull Purple (I.R. Official) and might not look that special to the untrained eye. It is, however, one of Britain’s rarest stamps and has recently sold for £400,000. Only 19 sheets of the stamps were ever printed in 1904 and most of them were withdrawn and destroyed almost immediately making this example a bit special.

This huge 250lb catfish was recently caught in Italy. It measures 8.2ft long and weighs over 250lbs making it the biggest freshwater fish caught in Europe. It was caught by angler Roberto Godi who needed the help of several other fishermen in order to lift the fish onto a weighing frame.

This interesting picture was taken at a cemetery in Southend and shows a plague of caterpillars. According to the article the caterpillars have covered the area with their web like nest. It is thought the nest contains several thousand of bird cherry ermine moth caterpillars. When they are fully grown they will emerge from the next as white moths with black dot markings.

According to this article this could be Britain’s biggest wasps nest. The size of a double mattress it was found in the attic of a pub in Southampton. It measured 6ft by 5ft and was around 15 times bigger than the UK average. Apparently it would house up to half a million wasps. The nest was removed by a pest controller who cracked open the top and squirted the colony with a powerful insecticide.

An England fan is trying to create the world’s largest football shirt. Justin Walley has been appealing to fans, players and clubs to donate football shirts which will all be stitched together to form one giant shirt. So far he has sewn together over 600 shirts but he is still appealing for more.

Parrots in Australia have been falling out of trees with symptoms similar to drunkenness. Birds have been struck down with a mystery illness. They show signs similar to human drunkenness, losing all coordination before passing out. They then cower in their cages when they wake up and recover. The problem appears to be seasonal with most of the lorikeets recovering within a few weeks and falling ill again the same time the following year. So far nobody is sure what is causing the mystery illness although it is thought it might be down to a plant that they are eating.

According to this article the British Veterinary Association and the Animal Welfare Foundation have called for a band on imports of terrapins and turtles. The Environment Secretary is being urged to deal with the problem as terrapins and turtles that have been dumped in ponds and lakes are threatening native habitats. The veterinary profession is now suggesting that imports of such animals should be banned. Currently around six million reptiles were imported into the EU every year. The article also points out that reptile rescue centres are inundated with requests to find homes for the creatures and that people are now just dumping them in lakes and streams when they find they don’t want them anymore.

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